1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to dissemination of information regarding the results of a contest in conjunction with advertisements that are selectively presented based on caller information.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, in the field of long distance communication there exists a large amount of competition for consumers between long distance service providers. Recently, long distance service providers have begun to promote telephone contests where callers using a particular long distance carrier are automatically entered into the contest to win a prize. In order for contestant callers to determine whether they have won a contest, they can log-on to a web-site and check to see if their names appear in a database of winners. This procedure provides opportunity for introducing new technology to further attract callers.
The invention provides a prize reporting device and method for reporting the results of a contest to a caller. A contest includes any type of prize awarding scheme, such as sweepstakes, raffles, lottery or the like. Upon inquiry by a caller over a network, the prize reporting device retrieves the results of a contest from a prize database. The prize reporting device informs the caller if he/she has won, and further outputs information to the caller based upon the caller""s information and whether the caller is a contest winner.
The information provided to the caller is a customized selection of advertisements for products and services which are selected to be of particular interest to the caller based upon the caller""s information. Additionally, the contest reporting device can present a caller with a branching message system, whereby the caller may navigate through a customized menu of choices.